The American gospel singer
Mavis Staples has reached the age of 74, but you can hardly tell. Staples’ career is still going strong: this past year she released the wonderful soul album
One True Vine, the quickest selling album in the American charts in her professional life so far. A real achievement, particularly since Staples has been active since the sixties. At a young age she was already a member of The Staple Singers, known for classics like
I’ll Take You There and
Respect Yourself. In 1969 she released her first solo album. In subsequent years she recorded for the Stax and Warner labels and gained fame as an actress, for instance in series like
The Cosby Show. Staples sings jazz and gospel just as easily as soul. It has gained her quite some acclaim: in 2005 the singer was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award, followed by a Grammy in 2011 for her previous album
You Are Not Alone.
